THE FALLEN BLADE: A Star Wars Fan Story

Part 1 - A Visit to Rosteus

The small starship approached the moon, the planet Rosteus passing underneath like a great space whale. Its sector was fairly quiet, offering little except a slightly longer hyperspace lane to its neighboring mid-rim systems. Its people were traders, using the planet as a rest stop from the noise of the galaxy. Little happened here, the most exciting event being a mining accident on the moon.

A small company had started mining operations, but an explosion ripped apart their life support system, killing everyone in the base. Scrappers had been there for two days when some of them started feeling...drained. Not tired or fatigued, but drained like their soul was being slowly sucked out of their bodies. The workers felt fine once they returned to the planet, but everyone who went to the moon experienced the same exhausting effect. The scrapper's shipmaster knew about a Jedi in the neighboring system and asked it to investigate.

It landed its ship gently on the destroyed base's landing platform, where a large man in a space suit awaited their arrival. He raised his eyebrow as the pilot hovered out of the spaceship, its space suit being welded to a small hover pad. The pilot's face, the only visible part of its body, was mostly covered by its Jedi hood. The man raised his other eyebrow when he finally saw the figure's eyes, several small green eyes on antennae peeking out from under the hood.

"Jedi Master KazNor, I presume?" asked the large man, "I'm Bobong Lukluk, the shipmaster that called you."

The figure replied in a quiet yet clear voice, which the man thought was coming from its chest, "Yes, Master Lukluk, I received your transmission. I already feel the draining you mentioned."

"Haha, yes, half the guys I came with already went back down," said Bobong, making his way toward the base's main hub as the Jedi followed. The two passed by several workers moving several large metal plates to the scrapper's ship. Suddenly KazNor stopped, looking up at the debris floating around the moon.

"Have you scanned the entire base for lifeforms?" asked the Jedi.

Somewhat insulted but still polite, the shipmaster said, "Yes, we scanned for survivors, but the entire base was dead by the time we arrived."

KazNor pointed up, "Did your scan include the debris?"

The man scowled, "If you think someone's drifting in space, forget it! Nothing's out there big enough for a man, and even if there was, they would've been de-"

The man stopped talking when the Jedi flicked its wrist and said, "You will scan the debris for lifeforms."

The man repeated the phrase and waved over his men, telling them to scan the debris. The scrappers readily complied, mostly out of fear of the Jedi and the moon's draining effect. They were all surprised when their scanner pinged a small crate floating on the other side of the base.

Returning to his senses, the man barked, "Well, stop standing around, get over there and bring it down!" The scrappers and Jedi quickly made their way to the box, which was attached to an intact oxygen tank by a thick line. The scrappers gently pulled it down to them, then freeing the oxygen tank and dragging the crate and tank together to their ship.

Once the hanger door closed, everyone in the ship gathered around the box. Bobong stepped forward to open it, Master KazNor floating close behind. The shipmaster's fingers gingerly pressed the control panel, the crate hissing out stale air. Its lid split in two and separated, revealing a small, pale boy lying at the bottom. He looked around ten years old, with messy dark brown hair and thin limbs. The boy looked up weakly, the eyes squinting at the bright ship lights.

The scappers gently lifted him out, the boy's limbs still rigid from being in the same position for days. They brought him food and water, the shipmaster crying and apologizing to both the boy and the Jedi. He reached out to hold the boy's hand, but as soon as he touched him he dropped to the ground, devoid of life.

The scrappers started screaming, "He's the drainer!", some running away and other hiding behind crates. KazNor stood still, sensing the draining sensation suddenly diminishing. Its eyes looked at the boy, who sat confused at the large man slumped beside him.

The Jedi finally hovered toward the boy and asked, "What is your name?"

The wide-eyed boy coughed and stammered out, "An-zu, Anzu Tur,...sir." He looked at Bobong. "Is he dead? Did I kill him?"

KazNor shook its head, "No, although you would have if you meant to." It took one of the boy's drinks and poured it on Bobong's face. The man stirred, wiping off his face and looking around. When his eyes rested on the boy, his hand moved toward his blaster. He felt another hand stop him, and he looked up at the Jedi's eyes.

"You don't want to kill this boy," KazNor said calmly. The man nodded and moved away his blaster, smiling as he looked at the boy.

"So this little runt's the one been draining us, eh? I guess if we found him sooner, none of this would have happened."

KazNor noticed Anzu flinching at the word 'runt'. It turned to Bobong, "No, the boy's condition has been much longer than your time with him. I shall take him with me to see that he gets proper treatment."

The shipmaster stood up, taking some time to steady himself on a crate, "Sounds fine by me. I'll get you some things for the trip back." As he left, shouting at his scrappers for being cowards and ordering them back to work, KazNor helped Anzu to his feet. The boy wobbled and fell, but finally managed to stand after a couple tries.

Bobong returned with a sack and a small space suit. He handed the sack to the Jedi, "Here's some rations and a little compensation for your trip. It's nice being tired AFTER you work instead of before." He then lifted the space suit in front of Anzu, "How does this look? Probably better than your box, eh? Let's put this on you so you don't turn into a frozen wampa treat." He fit the suit on Anzu and help him onto KazNor's hover pad.

The Jedi nodded and drove the pad toward its own ship. Anzu looked back at the shipmaster, who was waving as he shrunk in the distance. Anzu waved back and looked down, wondering what had happened.

"He was being kind," said the Jedi.

Anzu looked up and said, "He did want to kill me."

"Only in self-defense. Your power kept you alive but is very dangerous to others."

The boy looked down again, "Are you going to kill me?"

"No, I'm going to train you. Your connection with the Force is strong, and with the proper training can bring peace to you and many others across the galaxy."

Anzu looked up again as they neared the ship, "Can I become a Jedi?"

KazNor looked down, his eyes forming a smile, "Yes, you can." The Jedi and boy entered the spaceship, which soon lifted off of the moon and blasted into hyperspace, leaving Rosteus again in its quiet corner of the galaxy.